Posts by Brian Timoney

Here are some performance-affecting activities to be avoided. 1. Sleeping or closing your eyes an hour or less before a show. You may not wake up or wake up just before going on. This would leave you feeling very disoriented. 2. Drinking alcohol. Not a drop must be consumed before a performance for obvious reasons.…

No one wants to ruin a good performance, but it does happen. Let’s count the ways… 1. Faking and/or forcing the performance. If an actor deliberately fakes emotional content or starts trying too hard and forces the performance…yip ruined! 2. Not knowing the lines well enough. I have actually seen actors take to the stage…

A former student of mine said to me the other day. ‘You know what Brian, I still feel guilty about becoming an actor. My parents wanted me to become an IT professional and I feel I have betrayed them by becoming an actor’. Oh, how I know this story. I have been there. Listen, parents…

Acting is not for everyone. And if truth be told, there are some benefits to not being an actor. Here they are: 1. You won’t have to feel afraid just before you step on stage or on set to perform in front of hundreds/thousands/millions of people. 2. You won’t feel rejection that much, as you…

This is a true story. Natalie’s dad knew this guy who went to fight in the Second World War. When he turned up for his first day they asked what he did for a living. He said he was a tiller. Somehow the guy asking the question misheard the reply and thought he said he…

Here are 5 things that as an actor will make you squeal with delight…like a little piggy: 1. The phone call saying ‘You got the job!’ This is as much fun as you can possibly have with your clothes on. It’s a moment of pure ecstasy. 2. A director comes up to you and says…

    I saw a brilliant video the other day. It’s Shia LaBeouf giving advice on following your dreams. Go and watch it here and come back to me. I love his passion and share his frustration. You can really feel how frustrated he is with the idea that people don’t just do it. He’s…

There is an old Scottish saying “Fur coat and nae knickers’’ Roughly translated, it means someone pretending to be a bit more upmarket than they really are. Well, at the Cannes Film Festival this week there is a lot of that going on…but guess what? If you weren’t wearing high heels then you wouldn’t get…

One of my favourite films is the Pursuit of Happyness. It tells the true story of Chris Gardner. Chris is struggling big time. He is living on the breadline. His wife leaves him and he has to look after his young son by himself. He has little to no money. He and his son have…

This week there are young people all over the country sitting SAT tests. As you can imagine, this is quite stressful. Pupils get themselves into all sorts of states worrying over these and teachers know it. Which led to an amazing letter sent out by three teachers to their pupils this week. It went viral…